Democrats In Congress

WASHINGTON -- Congress left for its Thanksgiving recess yesterday without passing a bill to pay for the war in Iraq. The Senate deadlocked over a Democratic demand that the measure include a call for most troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2008. As they have all year, Senate Democrats failed to muster the votes to consider a proposal to condition further spending on a timeline for withdrawing troops. The $50 billion bill, which narrowly passed the House on Wednesday, failed by seven votes.

WASHINGTON -- Members of Congress who may ultimately control President Clinton's political fate expressed caution yesterday as they attempted to keep up with all the news conferences and startling revelations about his personal life.Even Democratic lawmakers who typically defend Clinton from partisan attacks offered only qualified support for the president, saying the accusations of perjury, obstruction of justice and solicitation of perjury were too serious to ignore. And the Republican response was muted because they feared that partisan attacks would give Clinton an opportunity to deflect attention from a deteriorating situation.

WASHINGTON -- With a unifying political agenda and a popular president, Democrats in Congress looked with relish just two weeks ago toward the 1998 political season.Today, as that season begins, the party faithful are keeping their president at arm's length and tip-toeing into Washington rather than taking the town by storm.Democrats put on a brave face yesterday, publicly promising that the sex scandal swirling around President Clinton would not derail their carefully crafted agenda.Rep.

WASHINGTON -- The first imperative for any politician in trouble is always the same: Change the subject. But it is unlikely that President Clinton managed to do that with his State of the Union address last night.The speech was loaded with crowd-pleasing proposals for the future and well-founded claims of success for Clinton's first five years in the White House. It was delivered at a time the president could report, as he did, that "the state of our union is strong." And the preceding seven days of white-hot controversy over Monica Lewinsky assured Clinton of a larger and more attentive audience than these speeches have attracted in recent years as Americans have turned away from politics in droves.

THE FIRST Summit of the Americas, convened by President Clinton four years ago in Miami, set a goal of free trade for the hemisphere by 2005, calling for concrete progress by 2000.The second Summit of the Americas, this weekend in Santiago, Chile, will speed the progress, with President Clinton cheerleading. The catch is that, this time, he will be the laggard.The 34 national leaders understand that ending protectionism is the key to making their national economies grow. He is the one unable to make commitments.

BILL CLINTON'S ambitions were clear. He wanted to be a president who made a difference, a president of substance, to whom history would be kind and laudatory. But his basic personal instincts overwhelmed his basic political instincts: As a severely crippled president, Mr. Clinton heads into the homestretch of his tenure. The legacy he desired has slipped away.To accomplish even some of the tasks he has set, Mr. Clinton will have to mobilize his fellow Democrats and enlist Republicans in the name of domestic tranquillity.

WASHINGTON -- It is not clear just when it happened, but in recent days, there's been a sea change in the discussion of the possibility President Clinton could be impeached.For most of the eight months the Monica Lewinsky affair has dominated Washington, the conventional wisdom has been that nothing would result from the investigation that would result in the president being forced from office. The litany has been that this is not Watergate. There are no suggestions Mr. Clinton tried to subvert the Constitution as Richard M. Nixon did 25 years ago.But speculation based on leaked disclosures of testimony is one thing and the reality of independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr's report to Congress is quite another.

Next year for only the third time in American history, a Democratic president will have to deal with a Republican Congress. Harry Truman did in 1947 and 1948, and Woodrow Wilson did in 1919 and 1920. But in neither case were the Republicans as starved for power and hungry for change as they are today, especially in the U.S. House of Representatives. It has been Democratic for 40 years. That is more than twice as long as the pre-1947 Republican drought and more than four times as long as pre-1919.

IN HIS UNCOMMONLY conciliatory inaugural remarks as Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich paid generous tribute to Franklin D. Roosevelt, the premier icon of liberal Democrats, as "the greatest president of this century." He then invited Democrats to reciprocate by reconsidering Ronald Reagan's achievements.As one who has voted for the Democratic nominee in every presidential election since I cast my first vote for Adlai Stevenson in 1952, no doubt I am among those Mr. Gingrich was addressing.

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton phoned me the other day to chat -- for almost an hour -- about my new book, ''Values Matter Most,'' which he has been reading and skimming. He praised it and its theme. I was thrilled, but somewhat surprised because the book is sometimes quite critical of him.Roughly, this is the theme of the book: Economics is no longer the No. 1 political issue. Values are; social issues are. Democratic liberalism linked the national party to softness on these non-economic issues, leading to defeats.

Do you agree with President Barack Obama and most Democrats in Congress that reform of the nation's health care system should include what's known as a "public option" - the opportunity for citizens to choose a government-sponsored insurance plan along with competing private plans? Yes 46% No 48% Not sure 6% (1,962 votes, results not scientific) Next poll: : Will Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's announcement that he accepts the idea of a Palestinian state help move the Middle East toward peace?

Washington -Rep. Chris Van Hollen figured his mission was complete after Democrats bulked up their majority in Congress last fall. Letting someone else lead the House campaign committee would free him to advance on the leadership ladder. And he'd avoid blame if the party lost ground in the next election. It's been more than a century since a party added seats in the situation Democrats find themselves in now. "We have our work cut out for us," says the Maryland congressman in an interview.

WASHINGTON - Senior Bush administration officials, consulting with the Obama transition team, have prepared a plan to ask lawmakers for the second half of the $700 billion financial rescue package despite intense opposition in Congress, sources familiar with the discussions said. The initiative could create an unusual political scenario. If Congress were to vote down the measure, either President George W. Bush or President-elect Barack Obama would have to use his veto power to get the money.

As a congressman and leader of a party campaign committee, Rahm Emanuel helped 54 Democrats win the House seats they hold today. When Tom Daschle was the Senate Democratic leader, he contributed more than $1.5 million to help a new generation of lawmakers win office. Now, Emanuel and Daschle are key members of Barack Obama's incoming administration, and emblems of a top priority of the new White House team: They are trying to build sturdy bridges between the new White House and Democrats in Congress, coordinating their plans well before Inauguration Day. When lawmakers hear from the two prominent members of Obama's team, they will know that they are talking to people who not only have the president's ear, but who played important roles in putting many of them in Congress.

A post-election postscript offers a chance to pick up where we left off on critical players in this historic election: Mac is back: In defeat, Sen. John McCain was a politician of striking grace and generosity. His warm tribute to President-elect Barack Obama recalled the John McCain who achieved success on tough issues such as campaign finance reform with compromise, respect and reaching across the aisle. His leadership will be needed in the new Congress. The Buffett factor: Despite Senator Obama's intention to raise taxes on the wealthy, 52 percent of voters earning $200,000 or more supported him, according to exit polls.

WASHINGTON -- Congress left for its Thanksgiving recess yesterday without passing a bill to pay for the war in Iraq. The Senate deadlocked over a Democratic demand that the measure include a call for most troops to be withdrawn by the end of 2008. As they have all year, Senate Democrats failed to muster the votes to consider a proposal to condition further spending on a timeline for withdrawing troops. The $50 billion bill, which narrowly passed the House on Wednesday, failed by seven votes.

WASHINGTON -- A new White House report yesterday found "satisfactory" progress on nine of 18 benchmark measures in Iraq, an assessment that drew renewed attacks from Democratic critics of President Bush's policy. Despite their call for a different course in Iraq, however, Democrats have not agreed on an alternative that would bring troops home faster than Bush has ordered. The latest White House evaluation gave passing grades to the Iraqis for integrating members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party into the government and moving toward semi-autonomous regions and other areas.

Washington -- With lawmakers returning today from their summer recess, the Democratic-controlled Congress and the White House are headed for what could be the biggest budget fight in more than a decade - and both sides are relishing it. "There is going to be a big showdown," said Robert L. Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a budget watchdog group, "because both sides believe they have something to gain politically. I don't get the sense that either side is interested in compromise."

WASHINGTON -- Broad new surveillance powers approved by Congress this month could allow the Bush administration to conduct spy operations that go well beyond wiretapping to include - without court approval - certain types of physical searches of U.S. citizens and the collection of their business records, Democratic congressional officials and other experts said. Administration officials acknowledged that they had heard such concerns from Democrats in Congress recently and that there was a continuing debate over the meaning of the legislative language.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- It's a beautiful Saturday evening, and more than a hundred Iowans are gathered on the green at the Ushers Ferry Historic Village to hear a speech by John Edwards. He's scheduled to appear at the Linn County Democrats Family BBQ, which has attracted not only local voters but a clutch of activists manning booths for other candidates and causes. As the crowd waits, partaking of hot dogs and hamburgers, the loudspeakers blare Bonnie Tyler singing, "I need a hero." When he arrives, sporting faded jeans and a light blue shirt, Mr. Edwards does a fair impression of one. In 2004, he offered himself as an optimistic centrist who could attract independent and Republican votes.